"The BEST FF no questions asked!"

I love FFIV(well II in the US but I will refer to it as IV). Yes it isn't the most graphically impressive, but this is the very game that got me into RPG's and even if not for that this game holds a high spot in my heart. Yes the Translation is crappy at best and makes FFVII look like a Japanese person fluent in english translated it. It had the best story, just the game was too dumbed down for us...hopefully the upcoming FF Chronicles will get it back on track. Anyway onto the review.

Graphics:7

Feast your eyes on this travesty that is FFIV, the Graphics were pretty good for an RPG years ago...but now even I can say they look ugly, the character sprites, while well done, look as if they are in a shirt with no pants walking around naked. There really isn't much I can say...the battle graphics however benifit much better, and show you why this was a massive cart when it was produced.

Gameplay: This game pretty much a straightforward as far as gamplay goes. You won't find a deep system like the Junction or Materia systems. What you will find is every character belongs to a Job class. The bad thing is you can't change classes, or for that matter characters either(which is good in it's own right but I will touch up on that in the story section). What you see in your party is basicly what you get. But don't worry the game will stick you with crappy characters(Edward comes to mind here), however it gives you the best characters for the end...well okay SOME of the the best characters in the game...so your final boss fight won't be so tough. Everything else is straightforward, you can't change classes or characters you just level up and change equipment, but this isn't a game about a system or some sort...you want a game with a crappy story and a cool system then FFV or FFVIII(well maybey it sucked all around) is for you...what this game gives you is the classic...

Story: 10 The Spoony Translation: 2

What can I say, this is hands down the best story I have had in an RPG...it isn't the deepest, but it goes enough that you get some feelings for the characters(even through the crappy Nintendo kiddie translation). Unfortunately the game suffers from one of the worst translations this side of Dragon Ball Z. There is a lot of ''Falling'' instead if dieing, and there is a lot of Spoonieness(is that even a word?) in this game. There is a few goofy moments that make me want to throw my shoe at the TV. The worst part is that the goofy parts are all in the wrong areas. While its Japanese version has some humerous moments(such as the stripper) this game is ultimately serious...but the translation makes it out to be a melladrama. Also other things from the story were cut as well to make it safe for the little punk kids. The story goes like this...Cecil, Captain of the red wings of Baron gets dismissed because he questions the loyalty of the king of Baron...however when he begins his mission to regain his possision he instead decides it is time to stop Baron once and for all...unfortunately this leads into a darker plot and more sinister villians. The characters come and go as the please and you are stuck with whoever the story give's you. This keeps the game from going from those annoying 1 liners had if you choosed who was in your party throughout and makes them actually say what is on their mind. It was a welcome in FFIX when they did this until the third disc and I hiope X will follow the suit.b but along with that classic story comes...

Music: 9

Not much to say, the original Chocobo theme is in there along with some of the best boss music in SNES RPG history. This is th stuff that gave birth to FFIX and FFVII's awesome soundtract.

Final Thoughts:

If you call yourself a RPGer then you really can't go wrong with this game...I recomend you find the SNES version somewhere and play it so you can see the shoddy translation, then play the Chronacles version to see what the differences were in it.